Candle in the Wind
by Flameofdeath
Summary: Witnessing the death of the Dragonslayers, & Dilandau's child, Folken thinks about differences between himself and Van. R&R!!!!


A Candle in the Wind..  
  
Cyana's note: ****VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!**** I made the Dragonslayers die in a war not in a "dragon hunt". Forgive me, but I didn't quite enjoy the prospect that their deaths could have been prevented if Dilandau had only followed orders. Also.everything in here, may be a little different from how it's SUPPOSED to be, but hey, it's fanfiction.and the focus on the story, is, in reality, Folken.  
  
DILANDAU: What about me???  
  
CYANA: You too, hon.*nervous that Dilandau'll throw a temper tantrum* Actually, I'm gonna write 'Alone' the same story, only longer, and through YOUR POV. Happy?  
  
DILANDAU: *walks away while thinking over this bargain*  
  
FOLKEN: I'm sure he's fine w/it.it's my screen time now!!!  
  
CYANA: *sweatdrop* ..ok.. R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
BTW: I do not own Escaflowne.otherwise the Dragonslayers would still be alive!!! AND ZAIBACH WOULD BE VICTORIOUS!! *ahem*.sry about that. ********************************************************************** I stared down at the battlefield, from the hovering Zaibach ship above. Dead bodies lay, too many soldiers, from both sides. Only my brother Van Fanel and the Dragonslayers remained. I looked down at the statistics in my hand. It claimed that the Zaibach empire had outnumbered the opponent 3 to 1. Disgusted, I threw down the bloddy damn papers to the floor. All my life, everything in my life went by statistics. Pathetic. For the first- born son of the royal Fanel family, it was utterly pathetic. But I'm not Folken Fanel, heir of Fanelia. That man is dead. I am Folken Strategos, head strategist of the Zaibach empire, adoptive son to the Emperor Dornkirk.  
  
I hate who I am.  
  
Shaking these thoughts from my head, I looked down to see Van, and I felt a twinge of guilt. 'I wanted to believe you had died. Everyone did. We refused to believe that you ran away, like a coward.' Van's voice invaded my mind. I had retorted that I wasn't even THINKING of running away when the dragon attacked me back. But now I'm not too sure. Had I run away? I was beginning to doubt myself. So much has happened since then, I don't think I can trust my memory.  
  
I returned my wandering gaze to the battlefield, only to see the Dragonslayers face a terrible beating. That couldn't be my brother. That was a homicidal maniac who didn't care about anything but killing Dilandau and his Dragonslayers. In horror, I watched the Dragonslayers, one by one, come to defend their commander, their leader. They had such a strong bond, all of them. Despite the abuse they had to tolerate from him, they still loved him.  
  
Only to die.  
  
They were so young, all of them. So young.and the only Zaibach soldiers to be standing up against the Ispano guymelef. Dilandau wasn't much older than them, either. 'Twas an insult upon Zaibach, to rely on such young children. Cowardice. And now, because of Zaibachs cowardice 15 Dragonslayers.lay dead. They were lying at the feet of Dilandau's guymelef. Gallons of blood came from the melefs of the Dragonslayers. The Escaflowne advanced toward Dilandau's Alseides, menacingly. And for the first time, Dilandau backed away in fear, crying senselessly.  
  
I had to get down there.  
  
It took me a while to get out of the levitating ship. When I reached Dilandau, Van was nowhere to be seen.  
  
I looked around me. Dead bodies. Blood. This wasn't war, it was massacre. A massacre among children. The barren land was decorated in blood, like a carpet. I saw a man lying face-up, with his stomach sliced open, and his intestines and fluids escaping the corpse. Looking down at my feet was the Head General Adelphos's head crushed and his brains splattered- literally-on the ground next to my feet. I saw another man, who was mangled up so badly he resembled a great big lump with bones sticking out. Another fellow, who was alive, had a knife in one eye, from which blood gushed, and an eyelid torn off the other. I shuddered. It wasn't like the Van I knew to lead such a rampage.  
  
Dilandau was still beside himself. He continued to call his Dragonslayers. He did not yet know that they were dead. I went over and gently laid my hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked at me. My touch broke his delirium. He searched around, unbothered by the other dead bodies. His search ended when he saw the Dragonslayers, fallen out of their guymelefs, dead. He knelt down, staring at their bloody faces, horrified. I've never seen so much fear and horror in his face. He stared at each with the same horrified expression until he saw the last one-Refina.  
  
Refina was the only female among the dragon cavalry. When she was appointed, Dilandau would mock her, and hit her for no reason (more than the others). He did not believe that females were capable of battling with the strength and attitude of a man. I don't know what drew them together, and I probably never will. But the look on his face when he saw her was a dead giveaway-betrayal. He loved her, and her death was her act of betrayal.  
  
Carefully and slowly, he laid her head on his lap, and wrapped his arms around her waist, the armor and cloth on her stomach tightening. Now, we both saw that she had a swollen belly, and obvious sign that she was breeding.  
  
I allowed my eyes to swell up with tears but I did not let them fall. An unborn child, who had a chance to escape this fate, this cursed life, was lost. A candle in the wind. I knelt down beside Dilandau, and draped my arm across his shoulder. Dilandau looked up at me, tears running down his cheeks from his swollen eyes, whose pupils were immensely dilated. I saw the shock and surprise in his face. He did not know about the child.  
  
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()  
  
I sat in my chambers, with Dilandau on the other side of the room, per my orders. Now was not the time for him to be alone. He did not complain. Silence has engulfed the room for some time. I was looking over more useless statistics and he looked out a window, musing. Occasionally, he'd make a move as if to try to tell me something, but then leave it and return to his musing.  
  
"Why didn't she tell me?" he finally asked.  
  
I did not have to ask what he was talking/thinking about. "She probably knew you would force her to stay instead of fighting." I guessed. "Or maybe she wanted to surprise you later."  
  
Dilandau didn't answer. After a while, he stated sadly, "I wish the baby was still alive." I didn't answer. "I might've been able to keep something from her. Have a part of her." I still gave no reply. "Do you think that the baby-"  
  
"Refina's dead, Dilandau." I said a little too firmly. "So is the child."  
  
I regret those words, as I would for the rest of my waning days. Dilandau's face broke, and he buried his face in his hands. I had ruined the hopes of a lover, father, and a boy. A boy.like my brother.  
  
If I were decent like Van, thean maybe I might not have told him that they were dead, so soon.  
  
If I were compassionate like Van, then maybe I wouldn't have talked so firmly to the grieving boy.  
  
If I were encouraging like my brother Van, maybe I would've kept the light of hope in his eyes, enough to let him go through this for now.  
  
But then again, if I were like Van.I'd be the one who caused all this pain.  
  
And that's the difference between my brother and I.  
  
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CYANA: Whaddya think? First esca fic, so be nice, but constructive!!!  
  
DILANDAU: Like anyone can e constructive about that.  
  
CYANA: You say I write badly? *at the verge of tears* Then I won't write the rewrite in your point of view!!!!  
  
FOLKEN: Beautiful, Cyana.really, you should write about me more often.  
  
CYANA: Yeah.I should, you're nicer. So anyway, R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And don't forget DO YOU WANT THE REWRITE OR NOT! BE SURE TO PUT IT IN THE REVIEW!!!  
  
Constructive criticsm is encouraged, praise is welcome, and flames will be used to toast my feet during this cold winter! 


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